WHEN Kate Fearnley bounced on to the stage to collect the top accolade at the Best New Business Awards it capped a phenomenal first year as her own boss.

Scooping both the young person award and overall winner at the ceremony, held at Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium last week, was testament to her success in an industry beset by problems.

Clothing companies face a merciless market with high street shoppers who demand cheaper clothes without any dip in the quality of the garment. These factors accounted for Dewhirst's closure of its Ashington factory last November and Barbour's decision to move its Crook production lines back to South Shields.

Both individual tragedies for the industry represent the tip of the iceberg where the rag trade is concerned.

Despite this, Kate Fearnley has turned adversity to her advantage ever since those same difficulties brought her to the hub of her own company.

The 26-year-old from Newton under Roseberry, near Guisborough, east Cleveland, was employed as designer for Atomic, a clothing company based on the Cowpen Industrial Estate, Billingham, Teesside.

The owner wanted to quit the industry and offered Kate the chance to buy machinery and textiles to take over the running of the firm.

She said: "It was very important. To start from scratch would have cost an absolute fortune but everything was here."

Kate then went a step further, deciding to start her own label using her name. Supplying individual fashion shops and not being tied to supplying major retailers has proved vital in her success to date.

"I have learnt from experience how to design for a hard market," said Kate.

"That has been the crunch. I have looked at what I think is missing from the market and look to fill it quickly."

The net result is that the Kate Fearnley label is now available in 40 shops across the North of England, principally in Manchester.

She employs three full-time staff and takes a student on placement from Northumbria University where she herself studied for a degree in fashion design.

Offering training and experience to the designers of the future has proved beneficial for both parties.

Kate said: "I think it is important to do something like this for the industry. Students in their second year at university normally go to London. I know from experience that you cannot be creative.

"Having a student come here helps me, but it is also helping give them a chance."

With an agent and the majority of her business being conducted in Manchester, there are question marks over where the future lies.

To build on last year's success, the business may have to expand southward.

"We are looking more to the South, which is going to be hard," she said.

"We have got as far as Leicestershire but more shops mean more staff, more fabric and we would need to move to new premises."

However, Kate said she is firmly committed to the North-East: "I do not think it matters where we are. Manchester is a known place for the textile and fashion industry. But there is no reason for me to be down there.

"I was brought up here and want to remain here."